The Council are due to upgrade their Operating System and issues arise over the access and authenticity of original files with the new operating system. The implementation of a new operating system could affect the files and we need to ensure that the files we have are ready for this change.

Any other parties who are also interested in applying Issue Solutions to their Datasets

Possible Solution approaches

To ensure we are ready for the upgrade to the new system:

Extract information from our current catalogue. If the catalogue does not work with the new operating system then we will at least have our information to ensure we know our files have not been corrupted:

Implementation of a Checksum system.

User friendly BagIt system.

Context

The majority of the digital files we hold have been created with the intention of being digital surrogates and being used as part of our PastPerfect Cataloguing system with the relevant metadata attached. Additionally, we have various digital artworks in our digital collection. At Inverclyde Council, the Operating System used is Windows XP. Within the next 12 to 24 months, the Operating system used by the Council will be updated. We want to ensure that when the upgrade takes place we are aware of any corruption to our files that may occur and that

Lessons Learned

The need to get a strict best practice guideline for how we manage our digital collection. We are not currently ready for the changes that will affect our collections in the near future. We must run a consistent preservation programme and possibly change the current cataloguing system. PastPerfect is unclear on its ability to run with new Windows Operating Systems. It may best to implement a cataloguing system which has safety in numbers, although there is no guarantee it will survive longer than the current cataloguing system. Additionally, the implementation of the bagIt systems reinforces our need to have greater control of our digital collection. Simplicity is often key with digital preservation and the need to create disaster plans, risk assessments and creating a strong knowledge base on the issues surrounding digital preservation.